I'm curious how others are consuming their literature. Do you prefer a Kindle or other electronic format or physical books? Where do you like to read? Do you have a certain place or time of day that is your primary reading zone?
I do most of my recreational reading in bed before going to sleep. That has been my habit since childhood. I remember being so excited about a good book that I would take a bowl of chips or a pop tart and a drink and go to bed 2 hours before lights out just so I could spend that time engrossed in the story. I have wonderful memories of the summer night sounds on our farm with my bedroom window open and a small electric fan blowing from my bedside table while I read The Fellowship of the Ring, or Rendezvous with Rama.
I now also enjoy sitting outside on my suburban back porch during the nice seasons, with a coffee or an adult beverage and reading with the background sounds of the breeze, the birds, and the wind chimes. When I plan my staycations, I always check the forecast so I can spend lots of time out there reading.
I have a fondness for physical books but I'll admit they have some serious downsides. The physical size and weight of large books, such as biographies or histories can be bothersome. Just holding them up and open for an hour or more can become tiresome. I sometimes joke that I have "book thumb" from my reading in repose. Carrying around a physical book with you all the time for standing in line or waiting on the oil change or sitting at a bar dining alone would also be a practical problem. Reading a bunch of books at the same time becomes a space issue on the bedside table. I've got stacks of in-progress or just-about-to-read-next (yeah, right) books in a few places in my house. I move them to dust sometimes.
All those issues aside, the thing I most appreciate about physical books is that I can write a note inside the cover with the date I read it. I have many books that have multiple entries; each a re-read of a favorite. I think my record holder is probably Lord of the Rings, which I've read at least 15 times. I can't be precise because I read it for the first time when I was around 12, and I wasn't in the date recording habit back then. Sometimes it's nice to go pick a book off the shelf and guess how long ago I read it, and find almost always that I've substantially underestimated. While I could make the note someplace else, like a spreadsheet or a library ledger, it's just not the same as holding the book in my hands and turning the page to see my scrawled notation.
However, much as I love that about real books, the convenience of electronic books is hard to beat. I can open the app on my phone while I stand in line waiting to order sandwich and I can easily set it aside whenever there's someone to talk to. Having access to an entire library of books in an instant is wonderful.
I've read much more diversely since ebooks became ubiquitous. There are lots of old books that are free (or virtually so) and can therefore be downloaded and just sort of nibbled upon in 5 minute increments. I recently downloaded from amazon the Teddy Roosevelt first book, a history, The Naval War of 1812, which is considered to be one of the best naval accounts of war and was taught at the naval academy. Would I ever have read any of that without the ease of downloading it the moment I learned of its existence? Similarly, I have recently downloaded books of poetry by Coleridge and Shelley. Would I ever have read any part of those without the impulse 'buy' (they were free) that is available at the push of a button? And since I paid nothing for these, I have no guilt about reading 5-10 pages and then leaving it for good if it doesn't keep my interest. It won't sit there on my coffee table in accusatory silence for 3 months like the old Netflix guilt-inducing DVDs used to do.
Holding up my kindle while lying in bed is a much less taxing feat, as well.
There is, in my opinion, a downside to the convenience factor. I have found myself re-reading a book from my digital library as a default, rushed choice when I'm bored and can't quickly decide on a new text. Then, beginning an old favorite, I keep reading it, and incur the opportunity cost of not reading something new.
The thing that I find somewhat disquieting, I suppose, about electronic books is that they somehow feel exposed, or at risk in the digital, networked world. The idea that some entity like Amazon or a repressive government could somehow take away or even edit these works gives me pause. Rationally, I know that my electronic copy of Seveneves is in fact much more secure than my dead tree copy of Battle Cry of Freedom, but I just can't shake the weird fear that someone could decide one day that Huckleberry Finn is simply too racist to be allowed in the culture, and should be cleaned up. Perhaps a book is considered subversive or disparaging to some high potentate and is changed to reflect a more palatable version of reality.
I don't recall the specifics, but I do know that Amazon did remove books at one time from customers' Kindles, due to some sort of legal/financial bruhaha with the publishing house or something.